


Season 1 - Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria

by monarchofrymden



Series: The Self-Indulgent Queer FNAF AU [2]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Trans, Angst, Charlotte "Charlie" Emily is Alive, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Trans William Afton | Dave Miller, Transphobia, and she's not a robot either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24755518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monarchofrymden/pseuds/monarchofrymden
Summary: William and Henry decide to expand on Fredbear's Family Diner, to make something bigger and better. From this, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria is created, but like everything in William's life it quickly unravels.
Relationships: Charlotte "Charlie" Emily & Henry Emily, Elizabeth Afton & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, Elizabeth Afton & Henry Emily, Elizabeth Afton & William Afton | Dave Miller, Henry Emily & Jack Kennedy, Henry Emily & Phone Guy, Michael Afton & Henry Emily, Michael Afton & William Afton | Dave Miller, William Afton | Dave Miller & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, William Afton | Dave Miller & Jack Kennedy, William Afton | Dave Miller & Phone Guy, William Afton | Dave Miller/Henry Emily
Series: The Self-Indulgent Queer FNAF AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1790170
Comments: 15
Kudos: 63
Collections: Monarch of Rymden's Self Indulgent Queer FNAF AU





	1. Grand Opening

In the time that Fredbear’s Family Diner was running, William and Henry had grown closer. While William was understandably still nervous about physical contact, he’d found himself reaching for Henry’s hand whenever he could, even while at work.    
After a couple months working together, after the morning with the pancakes, Henry had bought some fabric and a better sewing machine.   
“What’s all this then?” William walked into the workshop with two mugs, one of coffee for Henry and one of tea for himself.   
“You” - Henry turned to point at William - “can not keep using duct tape. You’re going to do yourself in.”   
Will set Henry’s mug down on the workbench next to him. “I’ve only broken one rib.”   
“So far. You’re only broken one rib so far.”   
“Henry…”   
“William.”   
For a moment, they just stared at each other.   
“Look, I did a bit of research, found a pattern for something a lot safer and reusable.”   
“You’re making me something for…” He gestured vaguely to his chest, which was only not wrapped in duct tape because Henry wouldn’t let him. “For this?”   
Henry smiled. “I thought it would make you happy.”   
“I, uh…” William wasn’t sure what to say, so instead leaned down and gave Henry a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”   
The binder was complete by the end of the day, at which point Henry had to prevent William from sleeping in it. As compensation, William insisted that they got to cuddle. That evening they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Fredbear’s Family Diner had opened in 1981. It was at the start of 1982 that Henry had the idea to expand. More animatronics, not just suits but actually running, more rooms and more space, with Charlie’s genius suggestion of a games room. While William worked away to make new animatronics and Henry kept money coming in from Fredbear’s, a construction crew worked on a new building for it all. Henry visited the site every week to oversee the progress. Unlike the absolute messes you see on Grand Designs, construction of the new site was finished early in 1983. It sounds unrealistic but that’s how it is. The animatronics were moved over from the workshop, via the back of Henry’s car, and installed behind a fence on stages. In total, there were four new animatronics. On the main stage, in the corner of a room with tables for eating, stood three of them: a brown bear with a top hat and a microphone called Freddy, a purple bunny with a guitar called Bonnie, and a yellow chicken holding out a cupcake called Chica. The fourth new animatronic had its own stage, in a smaller room designed for private party groups. This one’s name was Foxy, a red fox with an eyepatch and a hook hand. Its room was called Pirate’s Cove.   
With all the things in place, they posted up job listings. As Fredbear’s was popular across town, the job vacancies were filled easily, and with them all filled they were ready to open. Fredbear’s Family Diner was closed and their suits brought over in Henry’s car. Kitchen staff were just that, not really leaving the kitchen. Sorting out event bookings was a man called Scott.   
“Are you used to answering calls then?” William asked as they were all on site, making final preparations before they opened later that day.   
“Yeah,” Scott sighed. There was a pause as he adjusted his hearing aid. “Used to work in a call centre, absolute nightmare.”   
“And you went for a job that has you still on a phone?”   
“Anything is better than a  _ call centre _ , boss.”   
“Fair.” William started to walk off toward the main stage. “You can call me William, you know.”   
“Alright then William.”   
In the main stage room, Henry was behind the fence making some final tweaks to the animatronics, while Charlie had a stack of papers she was scribbling over in crayon, to decorate the walls with.   
“How goes it, dear?” Will ruffled Charlie’s hair as he walked by.   
“Hi Willie,” Charlie giggled. She’d been attempting to say his name for a while. This was the first successful attempt.   
“Oh my god, Henry. Henry!” Will jumped up and down. “Did you hear her then?”   
“Yes, I heard.” Henry looked up from Bonnie’s open chest.   
“She said my name, she actually said my name.”   
“Awe Charlie, did you finally say Will’s name?” Henry leaned over the fence.   
“It’s just a name.” She glanced over, confused. “5 year olds can say names.”   
“Yeah, but it’s my name.” William hugged her. “You actually said my name.”   
“Okay Willie.” She patted his head.   
After this emotional moment, William and Henry chatted for a moment. They cut their conversation short when Scott popped his head into the room. “It’s nearly opening time.”   
“Opening time,” Charlie cheered.   
Henry closed Bonnie up, jumped over the fence, and picked Charlie up from the table. William gave him a kiss as they all headed to the front door. Already waiting outside was a crowd of parents and children, ready for the place to open.   
“Wow, you sure are popular,” Scott noted.   
“You should have seen how many people would come to Fredbear’s.” William grinned, face to the window in the front door. “Those kids love us.”   
“So then,” Henry said, putting a hand on Will’s shoulder, “are we ready to open?”   
“Ready as we’ll ever be.” He pulled out the key to the front door and unlocked it. The doors opened inwards and the crowd filed in, excited for the grand opening of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.


	2. The Bite of 83

In the two weeks Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria had been open, they’d made more money than Fredbear’s Family Diner could make in a month, even after the electricity bill. Business was booming. Children really did love those dressed up animal robots. From a control room behind the stage, Henry made the three on the main stage dance, but with William in his suit entertaining the children and Scott answering phone calls there was nobody to control Foxy. For the time being, a curtain hid the stage and an “Out of Order” sign was pinned onto it. Once Henry had managed to keep the robots on stage going to a preprogrammed routine, he tried to do the same for Foxy, but the pirate fox wouldn’t turn on.

On that day, when it happened, William had given up on fixing Foxy and Henry was talking to some of the parents who were watching their children in the main stage room.   
A man that had never been there before entered the pizzeria, with a 7 year old boy and a 5 year old girl. Neither of them looked happy to be there, so when the two children walked quietly through the main room, Henry noticed. He looked around and spotted the man. Tall, pale, skinny, short dark hair parted in the middle.   
Henry didn’t remember many people from college, but that particular literature student had always stuck out like a sore thumb.   
Christopher Schmidt.   
He looked back at the two kids. William had said he had two kids. The girl was the same age as Charlie, just as William had said.   
Christopher didn’t seem to be doing anything, just stood at the edge of the room. Henry didn’t know if he knew William was here, or if the man had recognised him. He slipped out of the main room and ran over to the desk.   
“Scott, I need you to keep an eye on the man that just came in.”   
Scott looked up from his crossword puzzle. He blinked a few times before answering. “Tall, brown haired man, two kids?”   
“Yeah, that guy.” Henry nodded. “I know who he is.”   
“Who is-”   
“Just keep an eye on him.” Henry ran off down the corridor, to Pirate’s Cove where William was still sitting on the edge of the stage, watching Charlie with a group of kids she’d made friends with. As she loved to talk about them, Henry knew each of their names already: Lamar, John, Marla, Jessica, and Carlton.   
“Hey dear.” He smiled up at him. “What’s got your fur ruffled then?”   
“Can we talk?”   
“Yeah, of course, what’s up?”   
Henry glanced around. There were other parents there, including Carlton’s dad, Police Chief Clay Burke. They wouldn’t be leaving the kids unsupervised. “Not here. Safe room.”   
“Safe room?”   
“Yeah, now.”   
Henry practically dragged William to the safe room and closed the door behind them. Other than the kitchen, the safe room was the only place members of the public were not allowed. Against the far wall stood Fredbear and Spring Bonnie, for this was where suits were changed into. There were also some shelves and a table, with bits on for repairs.   
“Now,” William chuckled, “if this is some mid-day snogging I’m all for it but-”   
“William, this is serious.” Henry’s eyes showed concern.   
“Did I do something?”   
“No, it’s not you, it’s… You might want to sit down.” William sat on the table as instructed. “It’s, well,  _ him. _ ”   
“Him?” William raised an eyebrow.   
“Him.”   
“Are you… Are you sure it’s  _ him _ ?”   
“Tall, pale, skinny, short dark hair parted in the middle. He’s with two children, a boy with brown hair and a girl with blonde pigtails.”   
“That’s… They’re… Oh god, it is him.” William held his head in his hands.   
“I don’t know if he recognised me, or if he knows you’re here, or if he knows who you even are but-”   
“Where is he?”   
“Main stage. I told Scott to keep an eye on-”   
William jumped up from the table and rushed to the door.   
“Where are you going?”   
“Pirate’s Cove. I’m not letting that bastard anywhere near Charlie. You make sure he’s still at the main stage.”   
As William ran back to Pirate’s Cove, Henry headed over to the closer main stage room. When he got there, he couldn’t see Christopher, Scott, or either of the children. He turned around and ran to Pirate’s Cove.

Scott had followed the man to Pirate’s Cove. For a few minutes, the man just stood there. Charlie had tried to talk to the girl, who seemed nervous and dismissive. The girl with blonde pigtails shied away. Once those few minutes were up, the man picked up the boy and walked towards the stage.   
“Excuse me, sir,” Scott said to him, “we don’t allow customers that close to the stage.”   
“Oh don’t worry, Michael here just wanted a closer look.”   
The kid, who Scott assumed was Michael, shook his head and mouthed help. In the moment Scott turned to call Police Chief Clay Burke over, Christopher shoved him to the ground and vaulted the stage fence, leaving the curtains round the stage open. As he fell, he caught the corner of a table and his hearing aid was knocked out. Other parents rushed over to him just as William entered the room.   
“Scott, you okay?” He went over to Scott on the floor and helped him up. “What happened?”   
Scott pointed to his ear and, unable to judge his own volume, loudly said. “Can’t hear you. You asked what happened, right?”   
William nodded.   
Scott pointed to the stage. “The guy Henry asked me to watch grabbed his kid, decked me, and jumped the fence.”   
“Oh.” William stepped back. “Oh no.”   
He jumped the fence himself just as Henry reached Pirate’s Cove. “What happened?”   
Scott had put his hearing aid back in. “The guy you asked me to watch grabbed his kid, decked me, and jumped the fence.”   
Henry wasn’t one to swear, especially in front of children, but right then seemed an appropriate time for him to say “Fuck.” He was the third person to vault the fence.   
“Hey,” yelled William, trying not to let his fear show in his voice. He marched forward to catch up with Christopher, who was holding Michael up to Foxy’s level. “Customers aren’t allowed behind the fence. You need to get off the stage.”   
Christopher looked at him, eyes squinting as he inspected him, before they widened in recognition. “Oh, look at you, you runaway bitch.” With one hand grasping the back of Michael’s shirt, Chris swung and punched William in the face, sending him back and into the fence.   
Henry didn’t even get to say anything before Christopher kicked him in the crotch, sending him down to the floor in a heap.   
“Seen as it is you, ■■■■, all the more reason to destroy this place.” He hauled Michael back up to Foxy’s long face, pried the jaws open with one hand.   
“Stop,” William breathed out. The impact with the fence had knocked the air out of his lungs, and possibly broken a rib. “Don’t hurt him…”   
William’s pleas were ignored as Michael, kicking and screaming, was pushed into the open jaws of the Fox. Henry couldn’t get back up fast enough, and Clay Burke was only just climbing over the fence when, over the sound of the poor boy’s screaming, a click could be heard.   
The Fox’s jaw closed.   
Michael stopped screaming.   
Everything in the moment after felt like a blur. Christopher was tackled to the ground by the cop, who pulled out a pair of handcuffs to restrain him. William struggled to his feet and stumbled over to the boy hanging from Foxy’s jaws. The sight of blood dripping from its jaws made him want to throw up. He yanked the jaws open and removed Michael from them. Tears dripping down his face, he lay the boy half on the floor and cradled him.   
“Call an ambulance,” he cried out to those not on the stage, “call a fucking ambulance!”

Michael was almost immediately taken from the stage floor and into the ambulance when it arrived with the police cars. After explaining to the paramedics that he thought he had a broken rib, then that he was the kid’s father, then further explaining that he’d  _ given birth _ to him, they let him come with in the ambulance. The police could ask their questions later, William wasn’t leaving his son’s side. The girl with blonde pigtails, Elizabeth, also insisted on coming with. She wouldn’t leave her brother’s side.   
For a while, they sat in silence as the paramedics did what they could in the moving vehicle. Elizabeth spoke first. “I heard what you said to the paramedics.”   
“That’s a long word for a 5 year old.” William was already trying to dodge the incoming question.   
“You’re my mother, aren’t you?”   
“Don’t call me that.” William shuddered. “Your mother died the moment I walked out that door- No, no… She died the moment she had to marry  _ him _ .”   
Elizabeth placed a hand on his arm. “Did he hurt you too?”   
He held his head in his hands, trying to hide his tears from Elizabeth. “I’d rather not talk about it.”   
“Sounds like you’ll need to talk to the police about it,” one of the paramedics butted in, “you shouldn’t let him get away with that, sir.”   
“Yeah, I know,” he sighed, “and you can call me William.”   
“And what should I call you?” Elizabeth asked.   
William looked at her from behind his hands and gave a weak smile. “Dad. You can call me dad.”   
“Alright, dad-” joked the paramedic.   
“I said  _ you _ can call me William.”   
“Alright William, I think your son’s condition is stable enough now, but he’s going to need urgent care once we reach the hospital. I don’t think we’ll be able to save his eye though-”   
“Just keep him alive. Please.”   
“That’s our job,” said the paramedic, “now didn’t you mention a broken rib?” The paramedic felt about William’s ribcage and sure enough found a broken rib. “Yeah, that’s broken.”   
“Damn, Henry specifically told me not to break another rib,” he gave a half-hearted chuckle.

Once they reached the hospital, Michael was rushed off by some doctors and surgeons, and another doctor gave William some pain killers for the broken rib, leaving William and Elizabeth sitting alone in a waiting room. She leaned against him and started crying.   
“He’s going to be alright,” she mumbled to herself, “he’s going to be alright, he’s going to be alright…”   
“He damn well better be alright.” William wrapped an arm around her shoulders.   
It wasn’t long before the police showed up to question them. Thankfully, it was Clay that had come to talk.   
“That kid seems taken with you,” he noted as he walked over.    
“She’s my daughter, Elizabeth. Michael’s in surgery.”   
“Didn’t know you had kids Will.”   
“I haven’t got to see them in a long while. Wish the reunion was under better circumstances.”   
“And not with one of them being hospitalised by their father-”   
“That man isn’t our father,” Elizabeth cut in, “that man is a bad man, that man hurts us.”   
Clay’s eyes widened. “He didn’t just hurt Michael?” Elizabeth nodded. Clay knelt down to be on her level. “Hey, my name is Clay Burke. I’m the Chief of Police here.”   
“You tackled the bad man.”   
“I- Yeah, I did. Look, Elizabeth, has that man hurt you in any way?”   
She nodded. “When dad left, he took it out on us…”   
“Elizabeth, I-” William hugged her, crying. “Oh Lizzy I’m so sorry, I wouldn’t have gone if I knew he’d-”   
“He would’ve just hurt you more, dad.”   
Clay ran a hand through his hair. He buzzed to his radio. “Hey guys, I think this case may be a lot more than just the incident at Freddy’s, over.”

Elizabeth got to talk to some woman who specifically trained in talking to children, down at the station. William asked specifically to talk to Clay, not wanting to give away personal information to anyone that wasn’t at least a friend. While Clay had suggested going down to the station, William would not leave Michael’s bedside. The paramedic turned out to be right, they couldn’t save Michael’s right eye. The poor boy was pale, his breathing slow, near enough his whole face bandaged up. Severe head trauma, the doctors had said, with possible brain damage and a slim chance of waking up.   
William ended up telling Clay everything. He explained just who he was and who he used to be. He told the officer things he hadn’t even told Henry yet. Everything Christopher had done to him: all of the cuts, the burns, the scars on his neck and his back.    
“My god, William,” Clay sighed, “you’ve been through some rough shit. Maybe you could do with a therapist.”   
“Yes.” William rolled his eyes. “Because talking about it will  _ definitely _ heal my scars. Because talking about it will make my son wake up.”   
Once police questioning was over, and William had been forcefully assigned a therapist that conveniently worked in the hospital and could just come over to Michael’s room for their sessions, William was pretty much left alone with Michael. Word spread fast in the small town of Hurricane, talk of the town’s favourite entertainer sat at his son’s hospital bedside, and William found himself receiving gifts from people he hadn’t even met in the pizzeria, never mind out of it. Even with all the gifts, it was only when Henry came round that he didn’t feel alone. For about half an hour, William just cried into his shoulder.   
It was the second day Henry came round that he told him everything, showed him all the scars, each and every one a different time Christopher had hurt him. They were both crying after that. Henry then told him that Elizabeth and Charlie were staying with the Burke family while all this was going on. That night, Henry stayed with William in the hospital.

“Hey, I’m Charlie,” said Charlie, “I tried to say hi in the pizzeria.”   
“Yeah, I know,” murmured Elizabeth, “sorry I didn’t say hi back.”   
“Don’t be sorry for then, you can respond now.” Charlie grinned.   
Elizabeth looked up at the girl with long brown hair and lighter patches on her already quite pale skin. “Well, I’m… I’m Lizzy. Dad calls me Lizzy, I like that more. Do you know my dad then?”   
“Oh, Willie? He’s great, he always makes my dad smile.”   
“He does?”   
“Yeah and Willie always smiles a lot around him.”   
Clay popped his head round the door into the living room. “You kids doing alright in here?”   
“Yeah,” beamed Charlie, “I think Carlton fell asleep on the sofa though.”   
“Well that’s too bad for him, he doesn’t get ice cream.”   
“Ice cream?” Carlton sat bolt upright, causing Lizzy to jump. They all laughed.

As neither of them were ever going to eat  _ hospital food _ , Henry had gone out to get some slightly less disappointing food from the local McDonald’s for them to eat, and upon his return told William off for not having had breakfast that day and just eating from the boxes of chocolates townsfolk had sent over as gifts.   
“Look, I think I’m allowed to comfort eat right now.” He bit into his Big Mac. “God these are disgusting.” He ate it anyway.   
“Yeah, they really are.” Henry ate his Big Mac with a frown.

A week passed with them staying in the hospital, at the end of which Henry left for a day to check on Charlie and Lizzy. To his pleasant surprise, the two were getting on well and were talking a lot. Charlie had even let Lizzy hold Theodore.    
“Are you going to be a new dad then?” Lizzy asked. Henry almost cried at that. “Charlie was telling me how you make my dad so happy.”   
“I mean, if you want me to be your dad, I’d be in no position to refuse.”   
Still holding Theodore, Lizzy ran forward and hugged him. “Thanks dad.”   
Charlie joined in with the hug. “Yeah, thanks dad.”

Henry returned to the hospital with some slightly more appetising food this time. To get it, he had to to drive past the pizzeria, which was still surrounded in police tape. The place wouldn’t be open for a while. When he returned, William was chatting to Scott, who had brought a comically large golden teddy bear.   
“Now, I think we have enough bears in the house,” Henry joked as he walked in with Chinese takeaway.   
“No, let it stay,” William laughed, “it reminds me of you, my soft cuddly teddy bear.”   
“Awe, dear.”   
“God that’s so sweet I might throw up,” Scott said with a sigh, “anyway, I’ll leave you be.” He left the hospital room with a wave goodbye.   
“Get home safe,” William called after him.   
“So,” Henry said once Scott was gone, “any improvement?”   
“A doctor said something about increased brain activity, but I don’t know if that means anything.”   
“That sounds good at least.”   
“Yeah.”   
They fell asleep not long after finishing their Chinese, curled up in the chair by Michael’s bedside.

It was about 3 am when William woke up in a cold sweat with tears on his face. Whatever had made him feel like that had already faded from his mind, but he could guess what the nightmare was about. He glanced around the room. Henry was still asleep and Michael was still comatose. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, he got out of the chair and perched on the edge of Michael’s hospital bed. “Please, Mickey… Wake up. Mickey, it’s me, it’s, well, you know me as your mother but I’m not her anymore. Just wake up, so I can explain. Let me explain, please.” He gave Michael’s hand a squeeze.    
He felt Michael squeeze back.   
“Mickey? Michael?”   
The no-longer-comatose boy groaned, coming back to the world.   
“Hey,” he called out to the corridor, “hey, doctor, he’s waking up!”   
His yelling also woke Henry up. “Huh? What’s happening?”   
“Michael, it’s me. I’m here, I’ve got you.”   
“Wh…” His speech was slurred. “Wherrre…”   
“You’re in the hospital. You’re safe.”   
“Wha… Where’s… Elizzhh…?”   
“She’s okay, she’s safe.”   
A couple of doctors walked in and over to the bed. One of them moved William away. They started asking him questions, examining his responses, checking his eye. Henry hugged William from behind.   
“Lizzy will be glad to know he’s awake.”   
“Yeah, she will be.”

In the morning, the police were back in the room, asking Michael questions about the day he was placed in the animatronic’s jaws, about what Christopher had done. While still groggy and obviously suffering from some minor brain damage, most of his answers were coherent. William felt sick hearing some of it so stood out in the corridor as they talked. Henry had left to get Charlie and Lizzy and some breakfast for them all. They got there just as the officers were leaving Michael’s room. William was still standing in the corridor, bent over.   
“Hey, you alright Will?” Henry asked.   
“I… The things Michael was saying… The things  _ he _ did to Michael and Lizzy… I want to throw up. I should never have left, I shouldn’t have let all this happen to them.”   
Lizzy and Charlie peered round from behind Henry.   
“Dad, this isn’t your fault.” Lizzy hugged him, and he sobbed as he hugged her back.   
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have had to go through all that.”   
“You don’t need to say sorry for anything, dad.”   
“If I hadn’t have left, he’d have hurt me instead, he wouldn’t have hurt you.”   
Henry placed a hand on Will’s shoulder. “You know that’s not true, William.”   
He leaned back against the wall and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. He wouldn’t let go of Lizzy. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”   
William’s crying was interrupted by a nurse poking her head out from Michael’s room. “He would like to see you- hey mate are you alright?” She noticed William.   
“Do I look alright?” He sighed.   
“Honestly, no, but it’s a question I’m required to ask if I see someone crying in the hospital.”   
“Oh…”   
“Well, you’re allowed to go in now.” She walked off down the corridor. William stood up from the floor and wiped the tears from his face before they opened the door and entered Michael’s room.   
“Mickey,” Lizzy cheered as she ran over to him.   
“Liz,” he spoke quietly in response, still weak. Michael looked puzzled as Henry, William, and Charlie walked in. “Who are you lot?”   
“This is dad,” Lizzy eagerly explained, gesturing to William, “he gave birth to us and he loves us.” She gestured to Henry next. “This is new dad Henry, he makes dad smile.” Last of all was Charlie. “And this is our new sister Charlie, she’s brilliant!”   
Michael glanced over them. “But where’s… He’s not here, right?”   
“He’s in jail,” William answered quickly, “thank god…”   
“And who are you again?”   
“I didn’t think you’d remember.” William sat down in the chair by the bed. “Like I told Lizzy, I, uh, I used to be your mother.”   
“Used to be?”   
“Well, the way I see it, she’s dead. She can never come back. Yet because she’s dead, I get to live, to be the man I was meant to be.”   
Michael squinted. “So you’re my dad then?”   
“Yes.” He smiled. “I’m your dad.”

With everyone’s statements, the police had everything they needed to put Christopher away for a long time. Unfortunately, there was also the matter of an official divorce and custody to deal with. So much paperwork. William never understood much of the law, so Clay’s offer of help was appreciated. It took a few months, but to finally sever Christopher from him felt like a huge weight off his chest. They’d even managed to get a large sum of money out of him, which covered all the medical and legal fees and then some. Lizzy moved into Henry’s house, sharing a room with Charlie, and once released from the hospital Michael got his own room too. He decided that the large teddy bear was his.   
They reopened Freddy Fazbear’s a week later, with Pirate’s Cove still closed off to everyone. Henry had figured people wouldn’t want to go back there. Michael definitely wouldn’t go back there. When he checked it out himself William discovered there was still blood dried to Foxy’s fur. He locked the doors to Pirate’s Cove.   
In the arcade room, Charlie’s brilliant idea, Charlie and her friends sat chatting. Michael and Lizzy had been dragged into the group and Carlton was only half paying attention while one of the arcade games absolutely thrashed him. William popped his head to check on them, to be met with Charlie and Lizzy screaming “Hi Willie,” and “Hi dad,” respectively.   
“Hey kids. Everyone alright?”   
“Could be worse,” Michael mumbled.   
“Hey, Lizzy’s dad,” called out one of the other kids, who William was pretty sure was Marla, “can we get some pizza?”   
“Of course. I’ll be right back.” William headed off to the kitchen.   
As it gave a sad beeping, Carlton lost the game again. He pushed away from it in frustration. “These are so hard.”   
“You’ll get better,” said Lamar.   
“No, he won’t.” Charlie laughed.   
“Shut it you.” Carlton frowned as he sat in the group circle. “How come you get two dads anyway?”   
“Carlton, you can’t say that!” Jessica threw a crayon at him, which missed.   
“What? I’m just asking.”   
Charlie rolled her eyes. “They make each other smile.”   
“Okay, but you also get two new siblings? I want siblings.”   
“We’re sat right here,” Michael said.   
“I’m getting a new sister soon,” Marla smiled.   
“No you’re not,” Jessica corrected, “you’re getting a ferret.”   
“Same thing.”   
“Answer the question,” Carlton whined as William walked back into the arcade room with pizzas. “How come you get to have two new siblings?”   
“Package deal, they came with the new dad,” he announced as he set the pizzas down in the middle of their circle on the floor. He stole a slice before leaving them be.   
As he walked past a clock on the wall, he sighed. His therapist would be here in half an hour. Today was meant to be his final session with her, and he was glad for that. She was a little bit condescending and didn’t really understand the whole thing about being trans. In one session, he’d asked if there was anyone  _ like himself _ he could talk to; she’d just laughed and said everyone was unique. That was not at all what he’d meant and she knew it.   
“You alright there William?” Henry snapped him away from staring at the clock.   
“I- yeah, I’m fine.” He forced a smile, so Henry pulled him into a hug to make the smile genuine. “Thanks, Teddy Bear.”   
“Anything for you dear.”


	3. A British Guy Writes About The American School System

After another few months of settling in, Mickey and Lizzy were enrolled into the same school Charlie. They started in September 1984. While Michael was two years older, with his head trauma and no previous time in school, he was placed in the same class as Lizzy and Charlie. Being in a class of 8 year olds was strange, Michael was the oldest person there.   
With the kids in school, Henry and William didn’t have to watch over them all day while working and when Freddy’s was closed on Mondays they had the day to themselves, at least until they had to pick the kids up at 4.   
“You know,” William said over a mug of strawberry tea, “I should make something for you.”   
“Huh?” Henry looked up from his book.   
“Yeah, I should knit you something.”   
“You can knit?”   
“I mean, it’s been a while, but I’ve been wanting to get back into it.”   
“Well, we should go get some yarn then.”

William was lucky enough to find a large box full of a golden brown yarn, all pure wool. He’d also found some reds and some purple. By the time he finished his knitting project, it was nearly the end of October. He bundled the finished knitting up with brown paper and string, and presented it to Henry while the family sat in the living room one evening.   
“I finished it.” He grinned. “Open it, open it.”   
Henry untied the string and folded out the brown paper to reveal a sweater made from the golden brown wool. “Oh, this is lovely.” He lifted it up by the shoulders and it unfolded, showing the text embroidered on the front in red: WORLD’S BEST BOYFRIEND, with a little love heart either side of the word best. “William, I-” Henry clutched the sweater to his chest before taking his normal sweater off and putting this one on. “I love it.”   
“Awe,” said Charlie, grinning like an idiot, “it suits you dad.”   
“Thanks dear.” Henry reached over and ruffled her hair. He then pulled William into a hug. “You should be wearing this, you’re the best.”   
“At least it’s not a Christmas jumper,” Lizzy laughed.   
“I would never.” William mocked being offended. “Not so close to Halloween. I could never disgrace the world’s most important holiday.”   
“You could have made a Halloween jumper.” Michael grinned   
“Well that would be pointless,” said Henry, who revealed a box from behind his armchair.   
“What’s in the box?” William and the three kids said at once.   
“I made us all little costumes. Well, not really full costumes. It’s actually just masks…” He opened the box to show costume masks of all the animatronics. He pulled out his Fredbear mask and held it in front of his face. “I thought we could be matching.”   
Excited, William and the three kids reached into the box. William of course got his Spring Bonnie mask. Lizzy pulled out a mask of Bonnie, saying it reminded her of Theodore. Charlie took the mask of Chica and imitated chicken sounds as she put it on. This left Michael with a choice between two masks. He reached in and pulled out the Freddy mask.   
“Suppose that last one can go to one of your friends then,” Henry suggested.   
“Yeah,” Michael mumbled. He didn’t want to think about Foxy.   
“Well,” chimed Lizzy, “what should we put on the pumpkin.”

On one pumpkin had been carved a bunny that was meant to be Bonnie, and on Charlie’s insistence a second pumpkin had been bought to carve Fredbear into. They sat either side of the door. While Henry sat by the door waiting for trick-or-treaters, William took the kids round the neighbourhood, knocking on doors. Other children were out in costume, ghosts, zombies, robots, vampires, and all sorts of other creatures. A group of teens in hockey masks were throwing toilet paper over the Burke household, a decision they’d regret later in the back of a cop car. At the end of their road they found a house that also had pumpkins of the animatronics by its door.   
“Look, they have Chica,” Charlie cheered. They actually had everyone except Foxy, which was probably for the best.   
William knocked on the door and they waited. As it opened, they cheered “Trick or treat!”   
“Ooh, look at what we’ve got here,” said the Irishman behind the door, “Bonnie, Chica, Freddy, and Spring Bonnie. What, no full suits?”   
William lifted his mask up. “The suits aren’t allowed to leave Freddy’s.”   
The Irishman looked conflicted, realising that _ the founder of Freddy Fazbear’s was standing on his doorstep _ and realising that  _ the founder of Freddy Fazbear’s was English _ . “Oh, uh, of course…”   
“Well it looks like you like my work then.” William smiled and gestured to the pumpkins. “You’ve done a great job carving them, I must say.”   
“Thanks. You must be the founder then. William?”   
“That’s my name.”   
“So when can we get candy?” Lizzy asked.   
“It’s sweets,” both William and the Irishman corrected her. They stared at each other for an awkward second.   
“Anyway, uh, I’m Jack.” Jack the Irishman picked up a bowl of sweets and held it out. “Help yourselves.”   
As the kids grabbed a handful each for their bags, William and Jack exchanged a smile. “Good to meet you, rabbit.”   
“Same to you, Sportsy.”   
“Sportsy?” Jack looked down, remembering his Halloween costume was a zombie footballer [and no, not  _ American football _ , actual football]. “Oh yeah, that makes sense.”   
“Thanks for the sweets.” Michael smiled, already chewing on some toffee.   
“They learn so fast,” Jack praised.   
They waved goodbye and continued their way round the neighbourhood. Once home, Henry had to make sure they wouldn’t eat all their sweets at once. After some complaining, the three kids went up to bed. As Henry went up to read them a story, William made two mugs of chamomile tea with a spoonful of honey in each. Drinking their tea, they relaxed for the evening.

To their surprise, the day after Halloween was quiet at Freddy Fazbear’s. While it was nice to not have to do much, it meant less money coming in. Scott spent the day trying to beat one of the arcade games. At about 3 in the afternoon, Jack showed up to the pizzeria and to the business’ relief ordered a pizza.   
“Sportsy,” William cheered when he saw him sitting in the main room.   
“Bunny,” Jack cheered back, “how you doing?”   
“Ah, getting by. Didn’t expect this place to be so quiet today.” He perched on the table. “What brings you here then?”   
“I’m waiting for a pizza.”   
“You came to a children’s entertainment place just for pizza?”   
“Of course not. I was gonna ask for a job but got hungry.”   
“You want to work here?”   
“Well, yeah. I love the atmosphere, the joy of this place, and the animatronics… Oh, they’re just beautiful.”   
“I, uh, thank you.” William smiled. “My boyfriend and I made them together.”   
“Boyfriend?” There was a hint of disappointment in Jack's voice. “Oh right, he must be the co-owner then, the guy that wears Fredbear.”   
“He’s not wearing it now though, quiet day.”   
“What’s he up to then?”   
“I think he’s trying to get Foxy working.”   
Jack looked up confused. “Which one’s Foxy?”   
“Oh, um… He’s a red pirate fox. We took him offstage after…” He looked down and sighed. “After an incident in 83.”   
“Aw man, I’m sorry to hear that.”   
“I’m surprised you didn’t already know.”   
“Oh, I only moved here a couple months back. Fancied somewhere quiet.”   
William chuckled. “Well quiet is one way to describe Hurricane.”   
“I noticed.” With the place pretty much empty, one of the kitchen staff brought Jack’s pizza over.   
“Wait, you like pineapple?”   
“Am I about to be judged?”   
William stole a slice. “What? No, I love pineapple pizza.”   
“Oh thank god.” Jack let out a sigh of relief.   
“So, shall we discuss employment?”

What Lizzy learned that week in school was that there were more people like her father. He said he didn’t have a name yet, and his parents had moved to this town after trouble elsewhere. Lizzy immediately tried to be his friend, which just seemed to scare the poor kid, but to her advantage he was assigned the seat next to her in class.   
“Hi, I’m Lizzy. Wanna be friends?”   
After a week of trying, and of Charlie and Michael joining in, he gave in when he heard Michael say “he’s like dad.” They managed to drag him along to Freddy Fazbear’s after school.   
And he loved it.   
In school the next day, he announced that his name was Fredrick. There were some murmurs among the class, which quickly dissolved when threatened with Lizzy’s chewing gum meeting their hair. In the lunch hour, Michael removed the Freddy mask from his bag.   
“I think you should have this.” He held it out to Fredrick. “Dad - well other dad, not the one like you - he made these for Halloween. Full set of all the robots.”   
“You’re giving me your mask?” Fredrick touched its cold metal surface. “But your family won’t have the full set.”   
“There’s a spare, in a box. The robot nobody sees.”   
“Wait, there’s a hidden robot nobody sees? Why?”   
Michael pointed at his eye patch. An awkward silence dragged on for about 10 seconds. “Just take the mask, Freddy.”   
“I- Thank you.” Fredrick held the mask to his chest.

“Hey dad,” Michael asked Henry over the dinner table, “where’s the other mask?”   
“Why’d you ask?”   
“I gave my mask to Fredrick.”   
“Oh, is that the new kid at your school?” William chimed. “Was wondering what his name was.”   
“He joined about a week ago,” Lizzy added, “he’s like you, dad.”   
“Like me?”   
“Yeah, even named himself after Freddy.”   
“We’re naming material now,” Henry said, “that’s impressive.”   
William couldn’t help but smile. “I can’t think of anyone better to have the Freddy mask then.”   
“I’ll get you the other mask after tea, Mickey.”

Stood before the mirror in his room, Michael stared into the cold metal face of the Foxy mask. As if anticipating only Michael would ever wear it, the right eye was not cut out. He lifted the mask up to his face and looked at himself in the mirror.   
“I won’t let you scare me, fox.”

Apparently, two months into the school year was the ideal time for parents to move their kids into different schools. Another new kid joined their class and his name was Bradley. From the get go, he was mean to everyone around him. Horrible kid. Lizzy already hated him. She let most of his comments about herself slide, but…   
It was the start of December. They’d been making Christmas decorations for the classroom. The teacher only turned his back for a moment. Lizzy had been assigned sink duty.   
“So Elizabeth,” Bradley started, “what’s it like?”   
Lizzy blanked him, humming one of the tunes Bonnie played as she washed PVA glue out of pots.   
“Hey, I’m talking to you.” He took hold of Lizzy’s shoulder and turned her round. “I asked you what it’s like.”   
She smiled. “Well, I’d say talking to you is just as dull as ever.”   
“That- That’s not what I meant!”   
Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Just get on with it.”   
Her attitude had dulled his edge, but he tried anyway. “What’s it like being, uh, surrounded by freaks?” She looked down at the pot of PVA glue in her hand. He forced a laugh. “I mean, there’s your weird brother, your freak mum, and don’t get me started on your friend who thinks she’s Freddy Fazbear-”   
“Say that again and I’ll rub this PVA in your eyes.”   
“Your family are all freaks-”   
As promised, Lizzy turned and slammed the pot of PVA into Bradley’s face. She pushed the glue into his eyes. He obviously screamed, attracting the teacher’s attention.   
“Elizabeth!”

“Spring Bonnie” Scott called into the main room, “Lizzy’s teacher is on the phone.”   
“Give me a sec.” In the Spring Bonnie suit, William was surrounded by children. “Now kids, I have to go answer the phone. Be good for the band!” They waved him goodbye as he left the main room. He took the phone from Scott. “Hey, it’s Spring Bon- ugh, sorry, I’m at work. It’s William.”   
“There’s been an incident, you need to come pick Elizabeth up.”   
“Her name is Lizzy. Is she alright?”   
“She’s fine, but I can’t say the same for the kid she just attacked with PVA.”   
“I did warn him.” Lizzy picked up in the background. “I said if he said that again I’d put PVA glue in his eyes.”   
“Elizabeth-”   
“It’s Lizzy,” William corrected again.   
“He said it again so I did what I said I’d do.”   
“Look, Mr. Afton, can you just come pick her up?”   
“I am currently in an animatronic suit.”   
“I can wait for you.” With that, the teacher hung up.   
Scott took the phone off him and placed it back on the receiver. “What was that about?”   
William sighed. “I have to go get Lizzy from school.”   
While on his way to the back room, William walked past Jack. “Hey, Bunny.”   
“Sportsy, could I ask you a massive favour? You’ll be paid extra.”   
“I’m listening.”   
He lifted up the animatronic head from his face to talk. “I need to get Lizzy from school, but I can’t leave the kids in the main room without Spring Bonnie. Would you be able to put this on and entertain them?”   
“It’s safe, right?”   
“Oh yeah, I’ve been doing this for years and there’s not a scratch on me. I’ll help you get it on too, don’t worry.”

“I’ve always wondered what it’s like in one of these.” Jack looked out through Spring Bonnie’s mouth. “It’s not as snug as a thought.”   
“Really, I can’t thank you enough Old Sport, you’re a lifesaver.”   
“Don’t worry about it. This is awesome! Go get your kid, I’ll be fine.”

William drove up to the school and got there just before the usual end of the school day. Needless to say, Lizzy’s teacher was not happy about being kept waiting and wasn’t happy with William’s explanation of  _ needing time to get out of a dangerous metal suit _ . By the time the teacher finished explaining what Lizzy had done to Bradley, the school bell rang and he picked up the other two anyway. As he was still meant to be working, he drove back to the pizzeria.   
Upon his return, Spring Bonnie was nowhere to be seen. While the kids headed over to Pirate Cove, William searched for Spring Bonnie and found himself at the back room door. It was locked.   
“Old Sport, you in there?”   
“Yeah…”   
“Can you unlock the door?”   
“I’m sat against it so nobody comes in.”   
“Why don’t you want anyone to come in?”   
There was a pause. “I didn’t want anyone to see the blood.”   
“Jack, open the fucking door.” From inside there was a shuffling as Jack moved out of the way. As soon as he could, William swung the door open and closed it behind him. Jack sat against the wall, only still wearing the suit torso, his left arm held out straight. Dark red blood oozed from the gaps in the suit’s left arm. “What happened?”   
“One of the kids jumped up and tried to swing from my arm.”   
“Oh my god, Jack, I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t think this would happen, I-”   
“Ah, don’t worry about it.” His smile was weak. “Just help me get this thing off.”   
While repeatedly apologising, William reached into the suit’s left shoulder joint and disconnected the arm from the torso.   
“You can stop apologising,” said Jack as William removed him from Spring Bonnie’s torso.   
“Make me.” He grabbed a torch from the workbench and shone it down to see the extent of the damage.   
Thankfully, not every spring lock had gone off, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but between the dull sharp metal it was obvious that Jack’s flesh was mangled. “I might have to reset the locks to get this off you. We should really call an ambulance-”   
“Don’t bother, I’ve had worse.” To that, William stared in horror. “Nothing a first aid kit can’t fix.”   
“Jack, this is serious.”   
“I don’t have the money for it right now, okay. Just get the first aid kid.”   
William did as he was told. He was pretty sure there was one in here and he was glad to be right. Armed with the first aid kit and some tools from the workbench, he started work on removing the arm. First off, he cracked open the velvet-coated plastic shell to reveal what was hidden beneath. No longer hidden, the damage looked a lot worse, William felt sick. His hands shook as he pulled the bits of metal out and set them back into the spring locks. Each finished lock was then detached from the rest of the mess. He’d removed about half of them when he heard the first click.   
“Oh fuck,” Will cursed.   
Jack screamed as the spring lock previously still locked came undone and sent more metal into his arm.   
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I- I…” Tears ran down William’s face.   
“Just get on with it,” Jack snapped. His breathing was short and quick, his freckled face pale and streaked with tears. William startled and nearly dropped his tools. He wiped away the tears with his sleeve to let himself see and continued taking the metal out one spring lock at a time. It felt like forever, those 32 minutes. Once the final bit was no longer embedded in Jack’s arm, they both gave out a sigh of relief. Blood was splattered on the floor, the wall, the tools. William had just started to clean the wound with alcohol when the door opened. He froze up as he felt Fredbear staring down at him.   
Henry lifted off the suit head. “What happened here?”   
“I only asked him to put it on cause Lizzy’s teacher called for me to get her-”   
“Some kid jumped on me and was swinging from my arm-”   
“-she’d rubbed PVA glue in another kid’s eyes-”   
“-and the spring locks went off in the arm and fucked it up-”   
-”I thought he’d be fine for a couple hours but I got back to this and I-”   
“Stop!” Henry slammed Fredbear’s head onto the workbench. “One at a time.”   
They explained what had happened in turn, both still a bit shaken by it.   
“Alright, this is fine.” Henry looked over the contents of the first aid kit. “I did a first aid course in college, I can patch you up.”   
“Brilliant,” Jack sighed, slouching back against the wall.   
“William, go make sure everyone’s alright at the stage.”   
William nodded and left the back room. Once no longer confined by the Fredbear suit, Henry finished cleaning Jack’s wounds and began to stitch them closed. They looked a mess.   
“I’m afraid this is definitely going to scar, Jack.”   
“Ah well.” Jack shrugged it off and laughed. “Was thinking of getting a Freddy tattoo, but this is a far better memento.”   
“You’re positively mad, Jack.”

Considering how good Christmas was for business, not being allowed to use Fredbear or Spring Bonnie over health and safety was a nightmare. They had severely underestimated how angry little children could be when they didn’t get their way. New Year’s was thankfully a lot quieter and the children were a lot calmer, though still mad they couldn’t see Spring Bonnie or Fredbear. William couldn’t exactly tell them the reason they couldn’t see Spring Bonnie was because one of them absolutely wrecked an employee’s arm. Jack still hadn’t gone to the hospital, but he could move his fingers so insisted all was fine. Freddy Fazbear’s was lucky to not have a lawsuit.   
It wasn’t the first time an animatronic caused grievous bodily harm.   
And it unfortunately wouldn’t be the last.


	4. The Bite of 87

“Hey, I don’t think that new kid at school likes us,” said Fredrick over their pizza.   
“I don’t think he likes anyone.” Lamar snapped another crayon.   
Charlie looked up from her crayon drawings. “What makes you say that?”   
“It’s pretty obvious.” Marla picked off a slice of pepperoni and held it out to her ferret.   
“You shouldn’t have pets in here,” William said as he reached down to snatch the pepperoni slice, “and you definitely shouldn’t let her eat this trash.”   
He ate the pepperoni himself. While there wasn’t any risk of other customers seeing Marla’s ferret, with the group of kids sitting in the room off limits to anyone else - Pirate’s Cove, William didn’t want to risk complaints about live animals on site.    
“Fine, Lizzy’s dad.” Marla tucked the ferret, who she’d affectionately called Princess, back up her sleeve. Her head still stuck out under Marla’s hand.   
“You can call me William.” He took a slice of pizza. “Who is this kid anyway?”   
“Some fool called Bradley,” Jessica answered.   
“I rubbed PVA glue in his eyes,” Lizzy added, “of course he doesn’t like us.”   
“You know, you still haven’t said why you did that, Lizzy.” The kids looked up at William. “Or why yesterday the rest of you were hitting him with sticks. What was the deal with that?”   
After an awkward 10 seconds, John spoke first. “He was being mean to Fredrick.”   
“And he insulted you,” Lizzy added.   
William’s brow furrowed. “How so?”   
“You know how,” Frederick mumbled, “everyone like us knows how.”   
A twitch in the corner of his eye let show the anger he tried to hide, not that the kids noticed it. “Well, when he does next say something-” William grinned. “-you should teach him a lesson he won’t ever forget.”

It was one of those days where William got to pick his three up from school. Usually Henry would drive up, but with him busy William took the car instead. He met Charlie at the gate first and they stood waiting for the other two to leave the classroom. Other children filed out the gates and met with their parents.   
“Are they being lectured again?”   
“Lizzy snapped Bradley’s pencil and threatened to stab him in the eye with it.”   
“Jesus Christ… What did he do?”   
“He was being mean about Michael, saying things about his patch.”   
William sighed. “Are they going to ask me to come in and talk?”   
“Probably.”   
With a glance around, they noticed another person waiting around. She noticed them looking. “What you staring at?”   
“There’s a giant spider behind you,” Charlie lied. She laughed as the woman jumped and turned to look.   
“Charlie, that’s mean, she’s probably just waiting for her kid.”   
“Why are you still here,” the woman asked, “you have your kid.”   
“I’m waiting for the other two.”   
“Oh…” She looked away, sheepish. “Who are your kids then?”   
“This bright spark here is Charlie, and the other two are Mickey and Lizzy. Who’s your kid?”   
She gave him a strange look, one that almost seemed like recognition. “My son is Bradley. I remember your Elizabeth rubbing PVA glue in his eyes.”   
“Well I remember your Bradley insulting myself, and my son, and Fredrick.”   
“There isn’t a Fredrick in this school and there never will be,” she spat.   
William was glad for a teacher walking out with Michael and Lizzy following, because he wasn’t far off punching this woman himself. No wonder Lizzy had attacked Bradley if the whole family was like that.   
“Ah, hello again Mr. Afton,” said the teacher.   
“You can call me William.”   
“Oh, of course William. Sorry about keeping you waiting. There was a bit of an incident but it’s all sorted now.”   
“Yeah, Charlie already told me-”   
“Oy,” cut in the woman, “where’s my Bradley?”   
“Oh great it’s Karen again,” the teacher mumbled before turning to talk to her. “Bradley is in detention for insulting a disabled kid. Again.”   
“Again?” William looked down to Michael.   
“My son is being mistreated. I demand he be let out now.”   
“Please, Mrs Schmidt, that’s not something I can do.”   
_ Schmidt… Karen Schmidt… _   
William glanced over at the woman Karen, who was ranting on about her son deserving better than this.   
“Let’s get in the car.”   
“Dad?”   
“Now, please.”   
He hurried his three into the back of the car, buckled them in. He pulled out a little bit too fast for a school zone and drove round a corner. A couple football fields down the road, William pulled the car over and slammed his head against the top of the steering wheel.   
“Dad?” Charlie leaned forward. “What’s wrong?”   
Michael tugged her back. She looked at him puzzled, until her eyes met his eye and she realised.   
“Oh. It’s to do with him.”   
William sighed. “Can we not talk about it? I just need a moment.”   
After a moment of silence, William pulled the car back out onto the road and drove them home.

Karen yelled at the teacher until Bradley left the classroom at the end of his half hour detention. She ushered Bradley into her car, glaring at the teacher the whole time, and as she drove away she knocked over the council bin in front of the gates. They were home in little to no time, an old looking house near the edge of town.   
“Can we not visit dad?” Bradley asked as Karen lifted him out of his car seat.   
“No dear, you know the visiting hours are difficult.” She carried him into the house. “Maybe at the weekend.”   
“You say that every week. I want to see dad. I want to see dad!”   
“You’ll see him when you see him,” Karen snapped, “it’s not like he even cares, Bradley. He left us here while he’s in his little cell.”   
“He does care, he does!”   
“If he did, he would have finished the job on that Michael.”

When they got home, William locked himself in his room. Charlie had to explain to Henry what had happened at school, and after he gave Lizzy a half-hearted telling off for threatening to stab a kid with a pencil, he headed upstairs to check on William. He knocked on their bedroom door.   
“Hey, Sugarplum?”   
“You can come in.”   
“No I can’t, you locked the door.”   
Shuffle. Shuffle. Click. William opened the door and Henry closed it behind him. Henry opened his arms in offer of a hug, which William took by falling into him and crying into his shoulder.   
“Charlie already told me what happened.” He ran a hand through Will’s hair to comfort him. “I’m sorry dear.”   
“I just… It’s like I can’t escape. It’s like it’s following me.”   
“We’ll find a way to escape it then. We’ll be rid of them soon enough.”   
“And how are we going to do that?”   
Henry grinned. “We’ll figure something out.”

“We need to do something about Bradley Schmidt,” Lizzy declared to the group. She had the Chica mask on the side of her head.   
“What’s he done this time?” Carlton asked as he yet again died in the arcade game.   
Marla picked up a slice of pizza. “What hasn’t he done?”   
“I say we beat him up,” John suggested.   
“That’s not enough.” Fredrick pulled his mask over his face. “We need to teach him a lesson him and his folks will never forget.”   
“What can we possibly do to-”   
Jessica was interrupted by Michael, who coughed to get their attention. He smiled underneath the Foxy mask. “We do to him what his father did to me.”   
“How do we get him here?”   
“Easy,” Marla chimed, “invite him to my birthday party.”   
“This may very well ruin your birthday party,” Lizzy warned.   
Marla just laughed. “You four getting revenge on someone that has wronged you will be the best birthday present I could get.”

Tuesday, 27th January 1987. Ready for the show to begin, everyone was gathered in the main room. Carlton had conveniently fallen ill, so him and Clay Burke had stayed home. No police presence. In the corner of the room loomed Karen.   
“Why’d you even invite Bradley?” William asked Lizzy in the corridor. He couldn’t be in the same room as her.   
“We’re doing what you said.” Lizzy grinned up at him, the Bonnie mask on the side of her head. “We’re going to teach him a lesson.”   
Mask pulled over her face, Lizzy entered the main room. William sighed and went to hide in the back room. As Marla’s cake was brought into the room, the animatronics singing happy birthday, Fredrick, Charlie, and Michael each pulled down their masks to cover their faces. On their cue of Marla blowing out the candles, the four of them surrounded Bradley.   
“W- what’s this about? What are you creeps doing?”   
“You’ll get what you deserve,” the four said at once, something they’d practiced. They grabbed Bradley and dragged him to the stage.   
Karen noticed this and tried to alert the closest member of staff. “Hey, those brats are dragging my son to the stage.”   
“Well, you know kids-” Henry smiled and waved his hand as if to dismiss her. “-they’re always mucking about, just leave them.”    
The cake was cut into and Marla had her slice. Bradley was lifted up and the four climbed up onto the stage and over the fence.   
“They can’t be there!” Karen pointed at the stage.   
Henry pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “That’s what we said to Christopher. Didn’t stop him.” As Karen tried to run over, Henry took hold of her wrist. “You can’t stop them, Mrs. Schmidt, so just watch.”   
“Why are you doing this?” Bradley cried.   
Charlie yanked open Freddy’s jaws. “Because of what you did.”   
Lizzy pushed him into the jaws. “Because of what you said.”   
Michael held his hand near the bit keeping the mouth open. “Because of who you are.”   
“You get what you deserve, Bradley,” Fredrick mumbled, “do it.”   
Michael pulled out the metal bit that kept it open and the jaws slammed shut round Bradley’s head. With a knowing smile, Henry let go of Karen. The four kids jumped off the stage and ran over to Henry, past Karen as she ran to her son. They removed their masks and handed them to Lizzy.   
“I’ll go tell dad.” Lizzy skipped off out the room, taking the masks with her. Michael, Charlie, and Fredrick sat down at the table with Marla, Lamar, and Jessica. Together, they ate cake as Karen tried to free her son from Freddy’s jaws. Henry walked over to her, reached over, and slowly opened the jaws. Bradley collapsed into Karen’s arms.   
“Well, isn’t that a shame?” Henry laughed. “Consider this vengeance for what Christopher did.”   
“You did this because of Michael?” Karen stared at him, tearing up.   
“Not quite.” He stepped back and smiled. “We did this for William, not that he knows.”   
As he heard Lizzy approaching the room with William, Henry pretended to be upset. A perfect disguise, not one William could ever see through, blinded by his own love.   
“Look dad, we taught them a proper good lesson!”   
At the sight of blood dripping from Freddy’s jaws, William felt sick. “I- What? You did this?” He gaped at Karen, stood there crying with Bradley in her arms. “I’m calling an ambulance.”   
William rushed out of the room, threw up in a trash can, then snatched the phone from Scott.   
“Hey, I was talking to someone. What’s wrong?”   
“This is 83 all over again…” He disconnected the call and dialed 911. “Hello, it’s Freddy Fazbear’s, we need an ambulance.”

While comatose in his hospital bed, Bradley received no gifts of sympathy. His own mother, Karen, didn’t even visit him. As William watched yet more police tape be wrapped around Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, he remembered the line Henry had said as he’d left the building that day.   
“He got what he deserved.”   
That line still left him feeling unsettled and he had no idea what Henry had meant by it. With proof and witness statements, the police even charged the four kids with gross bodily harm or some other thing to that effect. As they were all still kids, they were let off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist and criminal records.   
Once the four returned to school, nobody even mentioned Bradley. He’d been gladly forgotten.   
Nobody was there when he died a few months later.


	5. The Spring Lock Incident

Needless to say, when Freddy’s was allowed to reopen in June, business was terrible. That’s what happens when two attempted murders take place on a site. They tried to get more people to come but nothing seemed to work. Nothing until William’s terrible idea.   
Nobody was allowed to use the suits after Jack’s incident in Spring Bonnie. Yet they were the characters children wanted to see. Both Henry and Jack would never put on one of those suits again. William however was just the perfect combination of reckless and stupid to wear Spring Bonnie again - after replacing its arm of course. News of Spring Bonnie’s return spread fast among the children, which brought business up again.   
“Are you sure you should be wearing that?” Jack asked at the end of the day shift.   
William placed the suit against the wall. “I’ll be fine, Sportsy. Don’t worry about it.”   
“You said that to me, remember?”   
“I can’t forget.” William stared off into the distance.   
“So yeah, I will worry, Bunny.”   
“I will be fine,” William assured, though he didn’t believe it himself.

It was a miserable Summer, storms sweeping through the town of Hurricane. Thankfully for the business, some folk took comfort in cheap pizza and robots. William was starting to get tired of wearing the Spring Bonnie suit. It wasn’t the same anymore. All this used to be magical, putting smiles on the faces of children. Some of them were turning sour.   
At the end of another long and tedious day, William headed to the back room to take off the suit. There was probably some law against wearing dangerous contraptions like this for long periods of time, he thought, but one can’t sue themself for injuries. He reached for the light switch. Nothing. Not even a flicker.   
“God damn it…”   
Still wearing the suit, he searched for a spare bulb by the light from the corridor. He found one in a draw. From the corner of the room he dragged a box to stand on. The old light bulb unscrewed and the new one screwed in without hassle, but he’d forgotten to turn the circuit off again before doing so. Without warning, the new light bulb lit up and shone directly into William’s eyes. Blinded, he recoiled and stepped back.   
Stepped off the box.   
Stumbled.   
Fell.   
William crashed to the floor. He stared up at the ceiling for the longest second before he realised.   
**Click.**   
The spring locks.   
**Click. Click.**   
His impact with the floor had set them off.   
**Click. Click. Click. Click.**   
It had set them all off.   
**Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.** **  
** He knew exactly what was coming- **  
** **Clunk. Clunk.** **  
** -and the worst part was-   
**Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.**   
-he had no way to save himself.   
**Snikt. Schluck.** **  
** He screamed as parts of the metal endoskeleton came free of the locks and drove their way through his clothes and into his skin. As some had set off earlier than others, the stabbing pain came in waves across his body.   
Metal tore into his limbs, stabbed through his chest.   
“Help me,” he croaked, his throat filling with blood. “H- Henry!”

Henry had just finished powering the animatronics down when he heard the scream. He dropped Freddy’s microphone and ran to the source, the back room. Scott tried to ask what was up as he went past. With no response, Scott followed. They ran into Jack on the way, who went with them.   
When they reached the back room, William had stopped screaming. Jack covered his mouth to stifle his own scream.   
“Oh. Oh god.” Henry fell to his knees. “William…”   
“What happened?” Scott asked.   
“Never mind that,” Henry snapped, tears in his eyes, “Call a fucking ambulance.”

William woke up in the hospital. He groaned, unable to move. Every inch of his body was wrapped in bandages. The last thing he remembered was Henry crying over him. He looked to his side, in the corner of his eyes, to see his Teddy Bear asleep in the chair by the bed.   
“Henry,” he groaned, “Henry…”   
Henry didn’t stir from his slumber, so William just stared at the ceiling for a while. At some point, a nurse entered the room to check on him.   
“Hey,” he mumbled.   
The nurse looked at him and smiled. “You’re awake?”   
“Well I’ve never talked in my sleep.” He tried to laugh.   
“Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Afton.”   
“How long was I out for?”   
“Three days.”   
“Three days?”   
The nurse nodded and wrote something down on a clipboard. “Could be worse.”   
_ Yeah, _ thought William,  _ could be dead. _

By the time Henry woke up in the morning, William had gotten the nurse to hold a book in front of his face for him to read. He was sitting up but barely had the strength to move his fingers, never mind hold up a book.   
“Sugarplum? You’re awake.” Once the realisation had set in, Henry jumped up from his chair and hugged him.   
“Ah- ow. Ow! Careful.”   
Henry stepped back. “Sorry, I’m sorry.”   
William sighed. Everything hurt. “Don’t worry about it.”   
The nurse handed the book to Henry and left the room. “If you need anything, just call.”   
“Thanks nurse.” Once she’d left the room, William slowly turned his head to face Henry. “How long have you been sat there?”   
“Three days.” His hair was a mess and there were bags under his eyes. The wool of his  _ WORLD’S BEST BOYFRIEND _ sweater was fuzzed up around the collar where Henry had been nervously fiddling with it. “What happened, William?”   
“I fell while changing the broken light bulb.”   
“The light bulb.” Henry pinched the bridge of his nose. “You were changing the light bulb?”   
“Technically, I did finish changing it. I just fell off the box.”   
“You’re an idiot.”   
“I’m aware of that.” William laughed. “I’m guessing the kids are at Clay’s.”   
“Yeah, they’re doing alright.”   
William smiled. “Teddy Bear, can I ask you to do something?”   
“Anything for you, Sugarplum.”   
“Could you read to me?”   
“Of course.” He looked down at the book: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? “Interesting choice.”   
“I thought it was fitting, we build robots after all.”   
“Fair point.”   
For a while, they sat together reading. Sometime after 5, Clay brought the kids round to visit. They talked on and on about their day at school and William was glad to listen.   
Jack visited once a week with pizza. After two weeks stuck in the hospital, they removed all the bandages. He stared at the pattern of scars caused by the spring locks and smiled. They hid what was there before, what Christopher had done to him.   
“Hey look,” Jack chuckled, “now we match.”   
A doctor had said something about his muscles being torn up, about needing physiotherapy to do things properly again. He was lucky to be able to still be able to move, one doctor said. He knew what they really meant.   
He was lucky to be alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discord server: https://discord.gg/8NK4wgD


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